Friday, January 14, 2011

Things are really heating up in the employment market of 2011 and out current job opportnuities are proof of that. Our clients are all expecting growth over the coming year and have assigned us new positions.

The reports says that China for instance, will need to double its talent base by 2020. Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States will need more immigration and better education to balance the loss of talent from aging workforces.

It says the highest demand will be for highly educated professionals, technicians and skilled managers, adding health care research & development will create huge demand world-wide. The report is clear in saying that if you do not have critical knowledge or technical skills you will be left behind.

A new report on looming labor and skills shortages finds that global mobility of talent is as critical to economic growth as global mobility of goods and financial capital.

To retain their growth momentum, most economies will need to import highly skilled professionals, technicians, and managers, and act fast to develop and diversify their domestic talent bases.

China will need to double its talent base by 2020. Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States will need more immigration and better education to balance the loss of talent from aging workforces.

Industries and countries worldwide will require major increases of highly educated people in their workforces to sustain economic growth, argues a new report prepared by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The report, Global Talent Risk -- Seven Responses, analyzes projected talent shortages by 2020 and 2030 in 25 countries, 13 industries, and nine occupational clusters. The report concludes that:

Demand will be biggest for highly educated professionals, technicians, and managers. Professionals will be in particularly high demand in the trade, transportation, and communications industries in developing nations.

In the next two decades, demand for professionals in manufacturing will peak at more than 10 percent in developing countries, exceeding 4 percent across all countries sampled. (Labor-demand growth rates are compounded annually.)

Health care research and development alone will generate enormous demand for skilled labor worldwide.

Employees without critical knowledge and technical skills will be left behind.

If left unaddressed, talent scarcity will become a threat to sustained growth, particularly in knowledge-based economies. "Human capital has replaced financial capital as the engine of economic prosperity," said Hans-Paul Bürkner, BCG's president and chief executive officer.

The roots of the global talent risk include the widely uneven quality of educational systems, erratic employability of the workers in the Southern Hemisphere, and demographic changes in the Northern Hemisphere, where retirement of the baby boomers will result in an unprecedented talent deficit. In Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, expected immigration and birth rates will not offset the workforce losses caused by aging populations. Today, foreign-born workers with university degrees or equivalent qualifications make up just 2 percent of the European labor market, compared with 4.5 percent in the United States and nearly 10 percent in Canada. Improved education and training must go hand in hand with increased labor migration.

"The global problem is no longer a mere talent mismatch. The scale of the predicted talent gap requires concerted action, starting with -- and going well beyond -- removing barriers to the mobility of talent," said Piers A. Cumberlege, senior director, head of partnership, World Economic Forum.

Extend the pool by tapping women, older professionals, the disadvantaged, and immigrants.

Members of the Global Agenda Council on Skills and Talent Mobility, as well as more than 100 high-level experts and practitioners, contributed to the recommendations in the report and to the talent mobility dialogue hosted by the World Economic Forum online and at meetings in Brussels, Doha, Davos-Klosters, Dubai, Montreal, New Delhi, and New York in 2009 and 2010.

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011 in Davos-Klosters will seek to catalyze a pragmatic, result-driven action focused on effective sharing of good practices.

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.

Incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1971 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Forum is tied to no political, partisan, or national interests (www.weforum.org).

About The Boston Consulting Group

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the world's leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with clients in all sectors and regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their businesses. Our customized approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of companies and markets with close collaboration at all levels of the client organization. This ensures that our clients achieve sustainable competitive advantage, build more capable organizations, and secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is a private company with 71 offices in 41 countries. For more information, please visit www.bcg.com.

Friday, January 7, 2011

The results of StatsCan's Labour Force Survey are in and Canada surpassed expectations with 22,000 new jobs. The average estimate of new jobs was 20,000 so today's study is impressing most.

Interestingly, the private sector added more than 50,000 new jobs but this number was offset dramatically by a substantial drop in self employment.

Despite the job creation, Canada's unemployment rate held steady at 7.6% due to more people entering the work force.

Finally, while December 2008-09 saw an overall job loss of 1.1%, the past year has seen creation of 2.2% - meaning we're back on the growth track.

Here's the study in full as released by Stats Can.

Employment edged up for the second consecutive month in December, with an increase of 22,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 7.6%. Compared with December 2009, employment increased by 2.2% (+369,000), following a decline of 1.1% the previous year.

There were notable employment increases in December in manufacturing; transportation and warehousing; as well as in natural resources. At the same time, there were declines in construction; health care and social assistance; wholesale and retail trade; business building and other support services; as well as agriculture.

Full-time employment was up 38,000 in December, the fourth increase in the past five months. Despite these recent gains, part-time employment has grown faster (+3.4%) than full time (+1.9%) over the past 12 months. Full-time employment accounted for 81% of total employment in December.

Increases in the number of private sector employees in December were partly offset by declines in self-employment.

Among the provinces, Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador saw employment gains in December, while British Columbia posted declines. Employment was little changed in the other provinces.

Note to readers

Following the release of final population estimates from each census, a standard revision is applied to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates. The revised estimates are scheduled to be released on Friday, January 28, 2011, and will include the following:

LFS estimates are currently based on the 2001 Census population estimates. These data will be adjusted to reflect 2006 Census population estimates and will be revised back to 1996.

Industry estimates will be reclassified to the 2007 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) from the 2002 NAICS and revised back to 1987.

Geography boundaries will be updated to the 2006 Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) rather than the current 2001 SGC. With this change, six new census metropolitan areas (CMAs) will be added and the boundaries of seven existing CMAs will be modified. New CMA tables will be created based on the 2006 census boundaries and will date back to 1996.

Finally, the 2006 National Occupational Classification for Statistics (NOC-S) will replace the 2001 NOC-S. This change will not affect the LFS estimates as there were only minor changes to the description of the categories.

Please note that the above-mentioned revisions will have a minor impact on the LFS estimates. However, rates of unemployment, employment and participation are essentially unchanged.

During the revision, CANSIM data for the LFS will not be available from Friday, January 21 to Thursday, January 27, 2011. To facilitate access to the revised data, LFS data on CANSIM will be free from January 28 to February 3, 2011.

LFS estimates are based on a sample, and are therefore subject to sampling variability. Estimates for smaller geographic areas or industries will have more variability. For an explanation of sampling variability of estimates, and how to use standard errors to assess this variability, consult the "Data quality" section of the publication Labour Force Information (71-001-X, free).

Strong gains in manufacturing and transportation and warehousing

Following a decline of 29,000 the previous month, manufacturing employment increased by 66,000 in December. The bulk of the gains were in Ontario and Quebec and were spread across a number of industries. This follows little overall change in the manufacturing sector in the previous 18 months.

Transportation and warehousing also saw a notable gain in December (+45,000). With this gain, employment in this industry was up 10.8% (+85,000) compared with December 2009.

Employment in natural resources increased by 7,700 in December, bringing growth in the industry to 10.8% (+33,000) over the past 12 months.

Employment in construction fell by 27,000 in December, the first notable decline since July 2009. Despite this decline, construction employment was up 4.8% over the past 12 months.

In December, employment in health care and social assistance declined by 24,000, following gains the previous month. Employment growth in this industry totalled 3.3% (+67,000) from a year earlier.

Employment in wholesale and retail trade fell by 22,000 in December. However, employment in this industry was relatively stable in 2010 (+0.7%).

Business, building and other support services also saw employment losses in December (-18,000). Compared with December 2009, however, employment was up by 8.1% (+50,000).

Agricultural employment fell by 8,000 in December, bringing total losses to 4.2% (-13,000) over the past 12 months.

More people working in the private sector

The number of private sector employees increased by 53,000 in December, while self-employment fell by 38,000. At the same time, public sector employment was little changed.

Over the past 12 months, 332,000 (+3.1%) employees were added to the private sector and 143,000 (+4.2%) to the public sector. The number of self-employed declined by 106,000 (-3.9%) over the same period.

Employment gains in Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador

Employment in Quebec increased by 25,000 in December, pushing the unemployment rate down 0.3 percentage points to 7.6%. With December's gain, Quebec employment was up 102,000 (+2.6%) from a year earlier.

In Ontario, employment increased for the second consecutive month, up 23,000 in December. The unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 8.1%. With December's increase, the number of workers in Ontario grew by 2.8% (+186,000) from a year earlier, above the national growth rate of 2.2%. Over the 12 months of 2009, Ontario's employment was down 1.8%, the largest decline among all provinces.

Newfoundland and Labrador saw employment increases of 2,500 in December, bringing total employment growth in the province to 4.6% (+9,900) compared with the same month a year earlier, the fastest rate of growth in the country.

Employment in British Columbia fell by 23,000 in December, pushing the unemployment rate up 0.7 percentage points to 7.6%. Compared with December 2009, employment in the province grew by 1.5% (+35,000).

More youths working in December

Following a large decline in the number of 15- to 24-year-olds participating in the labour market in November, youth employment increased by 26,000 in December. Employment was little changed for the other demographic groups.

Compared with December 2009, youth employment was up 1.8% (+42,000), below the overall employment growth of 2.2%. Over the same period, people aged 55 and over saw their employment levels increase by 6.6% (+186,000), of which half was due to aging of the population, as the number of people in this age group grew by 3.3% over the period. While this age group makes up less than a third of the working-age population, it accounted for 50% of the total employment growth over the past 12 months.

At the same time, people aged 25 to 54 saw their employment level grow by 1.2% (+141,000), primarily driven by men (+2.3%), compared with little growth among women (+0.1%).

Quarterly update on territories

The Labour Force Survey also collects labour market information about the territories. This information is produced monthly in the form of three-month moving averages. Not all estimates are seasonally adjusted; therefore, comparisons should only be made on a year-over-year basis.

All three territories saw employment gains in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared with the same quarter of 2009.

In the Northwest Territories, employment rose by 1,300 in the fourth quarter of 2010. The unemployment rate also increased by 1.7 percentage points to 7.7%, the result of an increase in the number of people seeking work. The participation rate reached 73.0%, the highest in the country.

In Yukon, employment rose by 1,000 during the three months ending in December 2010 compared with the same period in 2009. This increase pushed the unemployment rate down by 3.5 percentage points to 4.0% in the fourth quarter of 2010, the lowest nationally.

Nunavut saw employment gains of 900 in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared with the same quarter a year earlier. The unemployment rate increased by 2.5 percentage points to 15.2%, as there were more people participating in the labour market.

A more detailed summary, Labour Force Information (71-001-X, free), is now available online for the week ending December 11. From the Key resource module of our website under Publications, choose All subjects, then Labour. LAN and bulk prices are available on request. The DVD-ROM Labour Force Historical Review, 2009 (71F0004X, $209), is now available. See How to order products.

Data tables are also now available online. From the Subject module of our website, choose Labour.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

CMS Management Consulting, Canada’s leading recruitment company in the electrical wholesale sector, is pleased to announce the appointment of Don Janes to the position of Branch Manager for Nedco, Penticton.As a seasoned manager in the industry, Don brings more than 25 years of leadership in the electrical wholesale sector with the last 13 of those in the Okanagan region.As an addition to the BC leadership team, Don will serve to improve Nedco’s already strong presence in Okanagan region.

“Don’s local reputation and his track record of realizing profits through the ups & downs of the economy made him a very attractive choice to lead Nedco’s Penticton team,” said Cindy Saunders, Principal of CMS.“He’s proven himself as a competent leader who can facilitate Nedco’s growth plans in the Okanagan over the coming years,”

“CMS has been our partner in recruitment over the past number of years helping us strengthen our team.They are not only specialists in our industry but also intricately understand Nedco’s goals and philosophies.Don is a great example of the quality of people we’ve grown to expect from CMS,” said Glen Bourassa, Nedco’s District Manager for the Interior of British Columbia.

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CMS Management Consulting is a specialized recruiting and consulting firm serving clients across Canada and Internationally.Through recruitment and executive searches, business development, and retention studies, CMS maintains a track record of more than 23 years of Helping to Build Successful Organizations.For additional information on CMS Management Consulting, please visit their website at www.cms-management.com or contact Cindy Saunders directly at 403.265.6494 or by email at csaunders@cms-management.com

Nedco is a division of Rexel Canada Electrical Inc, the largest distributor of electrical products in the world.With over 90 branches across Canada, Nedco is pleased to offer one stop shopping for a wide range of quality products for communications/data, wire and cable, distribution, lighting, energy saving products, security and fire alarm, and other electrical products.For additional information on Nedco, please visit their website at www.nedco.ca or contact Glen Bourassa at 250.383.1116.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Now that the new year has begun, employers are thinking about growth much more than they were at the beginning of 2010. Two new surveys were released today but Harris Interactive and The Business Roundtable which both provide encouraging news to the employment market.

The Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with nearly $6 trillion in annual revenues and more than 12 million employees - many of these CEOs oversee Canadian operations as well. Their study shows that 80% of these companies expect an increase in sales and more than twice as many companies expect staffing growth when put in contrast to last year's Q4 study.

On a more Canadian front, a study by Harris Interactive for Career Builder shows that 70% of Canadian employers believe they are in a better position this year compared to this time last year. A whopping 33% of Canadian employers in the survey plan on hiring full time staff (which blows 2009's figure of only 18% out of the water!) A further 20% plan on hiring additional part-time staff and an overwhelming 51% of respondents said that they would be hiring temporary & contract staff in 2011.

These studies underline what we've been seeing at CMS. The trend is definitely pointing towards a larger workforce in 2011 and as an employer are you prepared? Maybe you should review our Recruitment page for more information on how we can help you keep up with your competition in terms of growth.